China’s Best-known Dissidents and Astrophysicist, Fang Lizhi died in exile in the US

One of China’s best-known dissidents and astrophysicist, Fang Lizhi died in exile in the US on 6 April 2012. He had become a force to reckon with prominent during the 1989 pro-democracy movement. He was compelled to spend 13 months hiding out in the US embassy after the tanks moved in to crack down on the student demonstrators on Tiananmen Square on 4 June 1989. He was known as China’s Sakharov, a reference to the famous Soviet physicist and dissident, Andrei Sakharov.

Fang went to Beijing University in 1952 to study theoretical physics and nuclear physics. He became an important researcher in laser theory. He rose to political prominence during pro-democracy student demonstrations from 1986 to 1988, when he became China’s most outspoken and eloquent proponent of democratic reform.

During the pro-democracy movement the pro-government supporters burned effigies of him, prompting him and his wife to seek shelter in the US mission. his speeches to students at the University of Science and Technology where he was vice-president, incited unrest. Fang was expelled from the Communist Party and fired from his university post.

He eventually fled to Washington with his wife in June 1990 led to mark a key stage in the resumption of normal relations between Washington and Beijing. In exile, he went on to become a physics professor at the University of Arizona in Tucson.